Liquid impelling system



L. D. JONES 2,064,799

LIQUID IMPELLING SYSTEM Ema/MM Leo D. Jone Patented Dec. 15, 1936 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE Application September so, 1935, Serial No. 42,836

Y 8 Claims.

The present invention relates to mechanisms and methods for feedingfluids in separate conduits and it was conceived with reference to theproblem of efiecting a relative control of the rate of feed of liquidsthrough a plurality of such conduits. It relates to the general class ofapparatus designed to eiiect an adequately controlled feed of this typewith accurate volumetric maintenance of the proportions of liquid fedthrough 10 the various conduits. It includes a metering device whoseoperation is controlled by the feed of liquid in a controlling conduitand positive means for impelling liquid in a controlled con-' duit orconduits which are operable in response to the volume of liquid flowingthrough said metering device.

A system of this general character is disclosed in my prior Patent No.2,009,890 and the present invention may be regarded as an improvementover the disclosure of that patent. In the performance of operations ofthis character damage to frictionally engaging surfaces, such as pistonsand cylinders and valve parts of the impellers of the controlledconduits, is frequently encountered because of the corrosiveness of theliquid whose flow is controlled, and the particular object of thepresent invention has been to provide an apparatus and process by whichsuch corrosion or other undesired phenomena encountered by reason ofcontact of impelled liquid with impeller parts may be avoided.

The system of the present invention may be employed in the treatment ofvarious types of sub stances, and I am of the opinion that it will findone of its principal uses in the acid treatment of petroleum oils and itwill therefore be described with reference to an operation of thatcharacter. This method of presentation is chosen solely for the purposeof clarity of description, and Ido not have any intention of limitingthe scope of my patent protection to this particular use, as my systemmay be used in many other connections.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a more or less diagrammatic viewillustrating the'general arrangement of apparatus in accordance with mylnvention and its application to a system for feeding liquids to amixer, and Figure 2 is a detail view of valves forming a part of theinvention and wherein the valves are in a position reverse from thatshown in Figure 1. p

The system involves inv general, separate sources of supply from whichthe oil and acid are fed to a mixing chamber, the oil being passedthrough a displacement meter I2 in the illusand moving impeller parts.

trated embodiment. This meter is provided with moving parts which aredisplaced in exact proportion to the amount of oil which flowstherethrough and in turn control a valve which controls the operation ofa prime mover or other 5 mechanism to efiect a feed of acid in directvolumetric proportion to the amount of oil which flows through thedisplacement meter. The conduit including the displacement meter throughwhich the oil is fed is indicated generally at A and 10 the prime moveror other mechanism for driving, the impelling mechanism for effectingthe feed of acid is indicated at B. The impelling mechanism proper isdesignated at C and the mixer to which oil and acid'are fed at D. In the15 particular system illustrated, the mixture of oil and sludge is fedto a battery of centrifugal separators E in parallel. A displacementmeter l2 in the oil feed line A controls the operation of that when anacid or other highly corrosive liquid is passed through an impellercomprising such moving parts, the corrosive liquid is so destructive tothe moving parts that frequent replacement of expensive and intricatemechanism be- 35 comes necessary. Therefore, in the operation of feedingsystems where one of the liquids to be measured is very corrosive, as inthe treatment of petroleum oil with fuming sulphuric acid, I haveconceived the 40 idea of preventing contact between the liquid To thisend I force a proportionate amount of a non-corrosive liquid which isimmiscible with the treating liquid, such as highly treated petroleumoil, 'into a container 5 of fixed volume, which has been filled with thecorrosive treating liquid. By this method the treating liquid will bedisplaced and will be delivered to the treating zone at the same rate atwhich the non-corrosive liquid is measured through the impeller into thecontainer holding a the corrosive liquid.

In the preferred form of my invention, two containers of fixed volumemay be used whereby oil may be measured from one to the other and todisclose the invention in a simple form and it will be shown hereinafterhow modifications may.

be made in thepractice of the invention without departing from itsscope.

Referring to the drawing more specifically by reference characters, theoil to'be purified is fed to the conduit I by a device capable ofsupplying it at constantpressure, such for example, as centrifugal pumpII. Oil. supplied through conduit I0 is passed to conduit Ill through ametering device I2 which contains a movable part or parts which arepositively displaced to an extent and frequency whose product isdirectly proportionate to the volume of oil flowing through the system.

In accordance with the preferred form of the present invention theamount of liquid, e. g.,

acid, the feed of which is eiiected by the impelling mechanism C, iscontrolled by the movement of pistons within the cylinders constitutinga part of the metering device, as described in my prior patentidentified above. To this end a packed rod I4 is passed through anopeningin the casing of the metering device I2 and provided with aprojection-which extends from this rod into the path of the pistons inone of the sets of cylinders. Thus, the arm extending from the rod I4 isadapted to be alternately reciprocated in opposite directions by thepistons as they approach the inner ends of their strokes. It will beseen that the rod I4 is reciprocated in opposite directions once foreach complete cycle of the metering device; i. e., it undergoes onereciprocation every time aquantity of oil corresponding to the sum ofthe volumes of the cylinders passes through the metering device. Thisrod I4 in turn controls the movement of a valve which controls theoperation of a prime mover or other device for actuating the impellerfor effecting feed of the acid or other controlled liquid to the mixer,in the manner I am now about to describe.

In a simple form of my invention I provide two containers 20 and 22which are of equal and known capacity. The containers 20 and 22 areinterconnected by means of four-way valves 24 and 26. To the inlet portof the valve 24 is connected a conduit 28 which leads from the dischargeside of the impeller C. The inletside of the impeller C is connectedwith the discharge port of the valve 24 by means of a conduit 30. Theintermediate ports of the valve 24 are connected to the top of thecontainers 20 and 22 by means of conduits 32 and 34 respectively.

The bottoms of containers 20 and 22 are also in communication with theintermediate ports of the valve 26 by means of conduits 36 and 38respectively. The inlet port of the valve 36 is connections of valves 24and 26 will be reversed with respect to the bottom and top respectivelyof containers 20 and 22.

When the container 22 is substantially filled with non-corrosive liquidand the container 20 is substantially filled with-acid and the valvesare in the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing. and the impeller Cis in operation, it is evident that liquid will be drawn from'the top ofthe container 22 through the valve 24 into the conduit 30, through theimpeller C and the conduit 28 into the inlet port of the valve 24 andthrough the intermediate valve port and conduit 32 to the container 20.At the same time, acid is fed to the conduit 40 and passes through thevalve 26 and through the conduit 38 into the container 22 to replace anyliquid which is being removed from the top of the tank. At the same timethe liquid which is being forced into the container 20 by means of theimpeller C displaces acid in the container 20 through the conduit 36,through the valve 26, into the conduit 42 and therethrough into themixer D.

The containers 20 and 22 may be provided with sight glasses 44 and .46,respectively, and the valves 24 and 26 may be interconnected forsimultaneous reversal by means of a hand rod 48.

Assuming the above described flow of liquid through the respectiveconduits, the sight tubes 44 and 46 may be observed to determine whensubstantially all of the acid in container 20 has been displaced by thenon-corrosive liquid and similarly when the container 22 has beensubstantially filled with acid. When this condition is reached thehandrod 48 may be operated to reverse the position of the valves 24 and25 as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing, so that while the impeller C isoperatingcontinuously the noncorrosive liquid will now be taken from thecontainer 20 and will be forced into the container 22 to displace theacid from the container 22 in measured and proportionate amounts. Inthis manner the operation may be continued so that the system is in-fact continuous and the acid may thereby be elhciently fed to the mixerin accurate proportion to the amount of oil passing through the pump I Iwithout contacting the moving parts of the impeller C. Inasmuch as thevalve barrels move only intermittently, the corrosive action of the acidthereon is not so vigorous, and furthermore non-corrodible valves may beconveniently provided.

' Since the acid volume of the containers 2!] and 22 is known. itsweight at a given level may be readily determined and because of thisfact-either of the containers 20 and 22 may be placed on a balance towhich may be aflixed two electrical contacts in positions to make acircuit with one of said contacts when the acid in'the container hasreached a given weight in order to effect sole- 60 noid actuation of thevalves 24 and Hand to make a reverse circuit and efiect reverse actua-.tion upon fall below another given weight.

While-I have shown two containers for altere nately holding acid andoil, it is obvious the method of feeding may be successfully-married outby using a single container for acid an second and separate containerfor oil, andw the system has been described asacontinuti one the samemay be operatedin fl'm ttently conditions should render such anoperation sirable. It is'obvious that, since the system closed one andis under pressure, and since the operation of the impeller C isdependenton the, flow of oil through the pump II, anysuspension as thesame may be limited by the scopeof the.

subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A system for effecting proportionate. feed of- .interconnected withsaid impeller, two containers for controlled liquid interconnected withsaid last mentioned conduit by valve means, means for selectivelyactuating said valve means to place one or the other of said containersin communication with said last mentioned conduit, a conduitinterconnected with each of said containers and through which controlledliquid is adapted to be fed under the impelling efiect of the displacingliquid, valve means interconnecting each of said containers with saidcontrolled liquid conduit and means for selectively actuating said lastmentioned valve means for placing one or the other 'of said containersselectively into communication with said controlled liquid conduit.

2. A s stem for efiectin ro rtionate feed of y g p other of saidcontainers into communication with two or more liquids comprising incombination, a controlling conduit through which one of said liquids isadapted to be fed, means for feeding liquid in said controlling conduit,a metering device associated with-said controlling conduit, an impeller,means for controlling the operation of said impeller by the operation ofsaid metering device, a conduit containing a displacing liquidinterconnected with said impeller, two containers for controlled liquidinterconnected with said last mentioned conduit by valve means, meansfor selectively actuating said valve means to place one or the other ofsaid containers in communication with said last mentioned conduit, aconduit interconnected with each of said containers and through whichcontrolled liquid is adapted to be fed under the impelling effect of thedisplacing liquid, valve means interconnecting each of said containerswith said controlled liquid conduit, means for selectively actuatingsaid last mentioned valve means for placing one or the other of saidcontainers selectively into communication with said controlled liquidconduit, and means,

. liquid conduit..

3. A system for efiecting proportionate feed of two or more liquidscomprising in combination,

' a controlling conduit through which one of said liquids is adapted tobe fed, means for feeding liquid in said controlling conduit, amet'ering device associated with said controlling conduit, an impeller,means for controlling the operation of said impeller by the operationofsaid metering device, a conduit containing a displacing liquidinterconnected with said impeller, two containers for controlled liquidinterconnected with said last mentioned conduit, a return displacingliquid conduit from said containers to said impeller, valve meansselectively interconnecting said containers with said displacing liquidconduit and said return displacing liquid conduit and means for.selectively operating said valve means to place one of said displacingliquid conduits into communication with one of said containers and theother of'said displacing liquid conduits into communication with theother of said containers.

4. A system for efiecting proportionate feed of two or more liquidscomprising in combination, a controlling conduit through which one ofsaid liquids is adapted to be fed, means for feeding liquid in saidcontrolling conduit, a metering device associated with said controllingconduit, an impeller, means for controlling the operation of saidimpeller by the operation of said metering device, a conduit. containinga displacing liquid interconnected with said impeller, two containersfor controlled liquid interconnected with said last mentioned conduit, areturn displacing liquid conduit from said containers to said impeller,valve means selectively interconecting said containers with saiddisplacing liquid conduit and said return displacing liquid conduit,valve means interconnecting said containers selectively with a source ofcontrolled liquid under pressure and interconnecting said containersselectively with a conduit through which said controlled liquid isadapted to be fed, and means for actuating said last-mentioned valvemeans to place one of said containers selectively into communicationwith the supp of controlled liquid and with the return displacing liquidconduit while placing the the feed line of the displacing liquid conduitand into communication with the controlled liquid feed conduit.

5. A system for effecting proportionate feed of two or more liquidscomprising in combination, a' controlling conduit through which one ofsaid liquids is adapted to be fed, means for feeding liquid in saidcontrolling conduit, a metering device associated with saidcontroilingconduit, an impeller, means for controlling the operation of saidimpeller by thepperation of said metering device, a conduit containing adisplacing liquid interconnected with said impeller, two containers forcontrolled liquid interconnected with said last mentioned conduit,- areturn displacing liquidconduit from said containers to said impeller,valve means selectively interconnecting said containers'with saiddisplacing liquid conduit and 'said return displacing liquid conduit,means for selectively operating said valve means to place one of saiddisplacing liquid conduits into communication with one of saidcontainers and the other of said displacing liquid conduits intocommunication with the other of said containers, valve meansinterconnecting said containers selectively with a source of controlledliquid under pressure and interconnecting said containers selecti'velywith a conduit through which said controlled liquid is adapted to befed, means for actuating said last-mentioned valve means to place one ofsaid containers selectively into communication with the supply ofcontrolled liquid and with the return displacing liquid conduit whileplacing the other of said containers into communication with the feedline of the displacing liquid conduit and into communication with thecontrolled liquid feed conduit, and means for -7 controlling all of saidvalve means for simultaneous operation.

6 A liquid feeding system comprising an imliquid conduit andmeans forselectively operating said'valve means to place one of said displacingliquid conduits into communication with one of said containers and theother of said displacing liquid conduits-into communication with theother of said containers.

'7. A liquid feeding system comprising an impeller, a conduit containinga displacing liquid interconnected with said impeller, two containers,valve means interconnecting said containers selectively with a source ofcontrolled liquid under pressure and interconnecting said containersselectively with a conduit through which said controlled liquid isadapted to be fed, and means for actuating said last-mentioned valvemeans to place one of said containers selectively into communicationwith the supply of controlled liquid andwith the return displacingliquid conduit while placing the other of said containers intocommunication with the feed line of the displacing liquid conduit andinto communication with the controlled liquid feed conduit;

8. A liquid feeding system comprising an impeller, a conduit containinga displacing liquid interconnected with said. impeller, two containersfor controlled liquid interconnected with said lastmentioned conduit, a.return displacing liquid conduit from said containers to said. impeller,valve means selectively interconnecting said containers with saiddisplacing liquid conduit and said return displacing liquid conduit,means for selectively operating said valve means to place one of saiddisplacing liquid conduits into communication with one of saidcontainers and the other of said displacing liquid conduits intocommunication with the other of said containers, valve meansinterconnecting said containers'selectively with a source of controlledliquid under pressure and interconnecting saidcontainers selectivelywith a conduit through which said controlled liquid is adapted to befed, means for actuating said lastmentioned valve means to place one ofsaid containers selectively into communication with the supply ofcontrolled liquid and withthe return displacing liquid conduit whileplacing the other of said containers into communication with the feedline of the displacing liquid conduit and into 25 communication with thecontrolled liquid feed conduit, and means for controlling all of saidvalve means for simultaneous operation.

LEO D. JONES.

